Various athletic events, including hockey, use a sporting implement such as a hockey blade on a shaft. With some structures, when the sporting implement breaks during play, it can be removed from the shaft and replaced with another sporting implement.
Despite changes and advancements in the technology of fabricating sporting shafts, many replacement hockey blades are still made of wood. This may be due to concerns regarding durability. Another reason may be the cost associated with forming the blade into the particular shapes desired by a player.
Wooden hockey blades typically consist of plies of wood and of glass fabric. The plies are laminated together using polymer resins, and are shaped in wooden or epoxy forms. The shape or curve of the form determines the curvature of the hockey blade.
A known composite hockey blade, on the other hand, is manufactured with a high-temperature and high-pressure molding procedure. The manufacturing process uses a mold that determines the geometry of the finished implement. Hence, a manufacturer employs a specific unique mold to form a blade with a specified curvature. This process is costly, because the price of one mold, capable of forming only one curvature, is high. Therefore, despite the shortcomings of wooden sporting implements, which vary in strength and are short lived under normal competitive use, many replaceable hockey blade implements used today are made of wood. Advances in the manufacture of tubular shafts have not been matched by similar advances in the replaceable blades.
For example, Tiitola et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,407,195, describes a composite hockey blade formed of fiber reinforced plastics. Hockey blades formed in accordance with the Tiitola teaching are costly to produce, in part at least because of the expenses associated with forming hockey blades of different curvatures.
Sports enthusiasts often request athletic equipment customized to meet a particular need or preference. Tennis racquets, golf clubs, and other sporting implements are available in a variety of shapes, sizes, and weights. For instance, a hockey player often demands a unique curve in the blade of the hockey stick.
Accordingly, one object of this invention is to provide a structure and a manufacturing process for a sports implement that can readily be formed or shaped, including by or for each user.
A more particular object includes providing an affordable, lightweight and strong composite hockey stick blade that is readily curved to the particular shape deemed advantageous by the hockey player.
Another object of the invention is to provide a relatively simple and low-cost method for fabricating a composite hockey stick blade that can readily be formed to a desired shape.
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a structure and manufacture for a formable hockey blade that is strong enough to withstand the rigors of play without undue breaking.
Other objects of the invention will in part be obvious and will in part appear hereinafter.